Publications

This situation assessment explores how the integration of nuclear infrastructure within a volatile military calculus is signaling a dangerous evolution in strategic thinking.

this assessment offers an in-depth analytical reading of how maritime geography – and chokepoints in particular – has been reconfigured within Iran’s regional strategy, and how this reconfiguration is reshaping the strategic geography of conflict in the Middle East. 

A month into the conflict, the number of displaced persons across Lebanon has reached 1 million people. Displacement orders are estimated to cover approximately 14 percent of Lebanon’s territory covering southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs, and the Bekaa. The displaced population has placed enormous strain on Lebanon’s battered economy. On 28 March, Yemen’s Houthi rebels entered the conflict, attacking Israel with a barrage of ballistic missiles. The potential for the conflict to escalate and encompass war-torn Yemen raises serious, potentially catastrophic, humanitarian concerns.

Introduction The joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran that began on February 28, 2026, has triggered one of the Gulf’s most dangerous crises in decades. For energy-importing countries in Asia, the conflict is not a distant war; it is a direct threat to their security. East Asian powers import roughly 60% of their oil from the… Continue reading Asia and the Iran Conflict: Energy Vulnerability and the Imperative for Action

A policy analysis exploring how the U.S.–Israel–Iran war is redefining Gulf neutrality, deterrence strategies, and regional security architecture.

The Lebanon front has become a central battlefield in a wider regional war, raising risks of state collapse, regional escalation, and threats to Gulf security.

ME Council analysis examining the effectiveness of pooled humanitarian financing in conflict zones, using the Sudan Humanitarian Fund as a key case study.

ME Council expert analysis on Saudi-Iran rapprochement, the GCC’s response to the June 2025 war, and Tehran’s push for strategic de-escalation.

This volume brings together leading regional experts and policymakers from the Middle East and the Horn of Africa to provide the first integrated analysis of Red Sea geopolitics. Combining security, economic, and socio-political perspectives, the contributors offer forward-looking, policy-relevant insights into one of the world’s most strategically contested corridors.

This policy note argues that the Gulf’s bid to recast hydrocarbons as engines of climate-linked industrial growth will falter without a regionally harmonized, legally enforceable climate governance framework.

Post-Assad Syria has pursued improvised DDR-style security measures. This policy note argues that only a nationally anchored DDR strategy can sustain stabilization

Abstract The Gulf states’ trade relations are in transition. While making progress on diversifying their economies, they continue to seek a balance between hydrocarbon exports and post-oil industries, as well as between Western and Eastern trading partners. Meanwhile, they remain exposed to oil price volatility, the retreat of globalization, and frequent global and regional supply-chain… Continue reading The GCC’s Evolving Trade Networks: Navigating Fragmentation and Diversification